Category Archives: Facing Challenges Positively

Mar20

Choices

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Yes or No

the choice

The world is full of an endless variety of people.  We come from all cultures, socio economic categories, and experiences.  We further differientiate ourselves by our talents, gender, interests, and professions.

But within all those categories, I believe humans honestly separate themselves into two main groups.  I’m talking about ‘yes’ and ‘no’ people.  These two types are universal.  You will find them within every sub category. They identify themselves by the choices they make.

When given a choice of any kind, ‘yes people’ have an instinct…an automatic response…to say yes.  They have to build a significant case against any choice before they feel comfortable ever saying ‘no.’

Given the same choice, or frankly any decision, ‘no people’ will put on the brakes.  Their automatic instinct is to say ‘no’ unless someone can convince them to overlook their reservations.  They have to be talked into a ‘yes’ and that can only be accomplished with some reluctance.

decision makingThink about yourself.  Which one are you?  ‘Yes’ people often find themselves overbooked, juggling too many responsibilities, maybe even resentful of being asked to take on more projects than they can fit into their lives.

‘No’ people, on the other hand have more free time but may miss an opportunity to grow because they deliberate too long before they are willing to take a risk. They may later regret not moving forward.

 The Choice

I’m a ‘yes person’.  I’ve learned this about myself.  I will find myself sometimes completely overwhelmed because I want to say yes any time I can possibly say yes.  So three months ago when someone who is an old friend emailed me and asked me to co-author an ebook about caring for our elderly parents; while all instincts inside of me were pointing to, “Are you crazy?” I still found myself leaning precariously toward yes.

I started making my checklist. Is this a smart idea?

yes or no

  • I never thought I would write about my mom and dad.  Can I do this?  Would I even want to?
  • I have nothing written about my parents.  It would be so much work.
  • Me?  Writing an ebook?  Have I ever even read an ebook?  No.  (Terrible thing to admit).
  • My computer skills are less than stellar.  Could I write an ebook with my lackluster computer skills?  Probably not.
  • My co-author whom I admire greatly lives all the way across the country.  I live in Cincinnati.  She lives in Seattle.  We would have no face-to-face contact.  Are you kidding?
  • She is talking about webinars and conference calls.  What?  Those words give me chills.

 Decision Making

After weighing all the pros and cons, quickly sketching out a couple of stories,  feeling completely overwhelmed and out of my element, quaking in my desk chair about the technology, I made the only choice that made any sense.   I said “Yes.”

The Result

gratitudeWe did it!  I’m incredibly proud of the stories we’ve written.  I know our experiences will help others who are trying to help their elderly parents make choices about their golden years.

I was in a steep learning curve every step of the way.  Yes, I have already written a book.  But this was my first venture into ebook territory.  It was truly foreign soil for me.  I had to maneuver webinars and conference calls which finally no longer scare me.

My partner, Marky Olson and I, encouraged one another every step of the way.  It seemed like each time one of us was a little discouraged the other would have just the right words to say.  Am I glad I took the risk?  Oh YES!  Our ebook will be out soon.  We are now in the process of  maneuvering through the decisions about the print version of our book.

My best advice?  Say ‘yes‘ whenever you can.

But maybe that’s just me.  I’d rather risk a failure saying ‘yes’ than regret missing a wonderful opportunity by saying ‘no’.  No doubt, I will fail more than most.  But I’ve already admitted I’m a ‘yes person’. I suppose you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Feb29

Breakthrough Update

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February Progress

Woo-Hoo!

 Those of you who are my regular blog readers (thank you!) know that I’ve committed myself to making progress this year in three areas that have eluded ongoing success in the past.  In other words I’ve tried and failed many times.  But this year I want to breakthrough in these areas.  The areas are 1. exercise  2. eating reasonably to lose a significant number of pounds.  3. Understanding technology.

Best News First

  • I’m exercising regularly.  Honest to goodness I try to workout six times a week.
  • Very, very occasionally I have a time restraint that prohibits my working out at my exercise facility which may lower it to 5 days a week.
  • I’m actually enjoying the work outs.  !!
  • Goals this month: If I miss a work out I want to commit to exercising at home or by walking.  Spring is almost here.  Outside walks are now possible.
  • Some time this month I want to try to add in zumba.  This is offered where I work out.  I’ve avoided it because I’m just coming off an achilles tendonitis issue.  I will start cautiously.
  • This is the area in which I feel I’ve made the most progress.  I believe I am most apt to have made a permanent change in this area.
  • I feel like it is getting easier.

Positive Progress

  • I’ve lost weight this month.
  • I actually lost more than I thought I might when I made my prediction at the beginning of the month.  Yay!
  • However, all the weight I lost happened in the middle of the month.  Many pounds came off at once while hovering in the same spot for a while.
  • The past two weeks I’ve stalled in one spot.
  • As I hover I get more and more discouraged.  It is hard to keep eating a reduced amount for ten days of seeing no progress.  I find myself eating just a tiny bit more thinking, “What the heck!  It isn’t coming off anyway.”  😦
  • I believe I have cut back my food intake enough that my body is trying to hang on to weight.  My metabolism may be dropping off which is preventing additional weight loss.  I’ve reached this weight before and plateaued.
  • I am also gaining muscles which I’ve heard weigh more than…uh…fat.
  • With the turn of the month I feel a new commitment.  But after three months on this issue, I admit it is harder to get revved up.   Power boost needed.
  • I want this to be easier.  It isn’t.

Technology Progress

  • There is no doubt about it.  I’m making progress.
  • But many, many things still elude me.
  • Earlier this week while working on this blog, it posted twice prematurely.  I still have no idea why?
  • I attend webinars on technology issues but often feel like I learn nothing, because I don’t understand what they are saying.  At the end of each one I have to fight tears.  Therefore I skip webinars that are available to me.
  • In school, I always felt like I was ‘smart’ (whatever that means).  It is hard to feel ‘dumb’ (whatever that means) about an issue.  I want to run from it.
  •  There’s no doubt I’m making progress.  I’m now on facebook.  I have half my timeline designed.  It will be revealed tomorrow…without a photo.  Baby steps.
  • I don’t know how to link anything.  I can’t insert clips or videos.  It is  a steep learning curve.
  • I’m also writing two blogs which force me to learn new skills.
  • The ebook I’m co-authoring will be submitted the end of this week.  I still have to learn how to make a page of photos with captions by then.   Gulp.
  • It is an uphill struggle.
  • I somehow believe this area will always be a challenge for me.  I want it to be easier.  It isn’t.
 Next breakthrough update?   Coming at the end of March.
Jan21

Superheros I Know

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Facebook Mysteries

Facebook!  “If you want to be a writer,” everybody says, “you have to have a Facebook page.”

Therefore…well tardy of the forward thinking online crowd…I am filling out my background information for a Facebook page.  It’s exhausting.  I’m supposed to have an opinion about everything apparently.  Sometimes I don’t have an opinion.  Should I make one up?

Sometimes I have an opinion, but it’s embarrassing and I don’t want the world to know about it.  Do I really want to admit to the universe that I love watching American Pickers on the history channel?  I love the enthusiasm of Mike and Frank picking through all that junk in those dilapidated barns.  They would make great history teachers. There, now I’ve admitted my deep dark secret to the world, or at least the friendly community of my bloggers.

Mike and Frank comb the backroads of America.

It feels more than a little awkward for a professional teacher to be posting information about her political and religious beliefs.  Most teachers go way out of their way not to share that information.  There is that separation of church and state principle on which our country was based.  I wouldn’t even tell my students who I was voting for in any election for fear of overstepping a boundary of influence while I was in front of the classroom.  But these days I supervise college seniors doing their student teaching.  I’m not trying to influence anyone from the front of a classroom.

Who Inspires Me?

But on one question I am certain.  Who inspires me?  I can’t download a celebrity’s face or even a famous person.  People who live in the real world inspire me.  While my daughter was battling cancer, I met a woman who had twin babies, one of whom had cancer.  Twin babies is challenging enough, without a pediatric cancer diagnosis.  That mother inspired me.

I had a daughter  who was born with cerebral palsy.  She did everything with one hand for her entire life.  She did it so well and effortlessly that hardly anyone ever noticed.  She tied her shoes, buttoned her clothes, carried her books and rode a horse using only one hand.   Try it. But then I worked in a school where a student had no arms at all and ate his meals and typed with his feet.  All of life’s challenges are a matter of perspective.

Does someone have to be disabled in order to be inspirational?  Of course not.

I know a lady who bakes birthday cakes for people who would not receive a cake otherwise.  She has baked hundreds of cakes for people she has never met.  She has other volunteers deliver them so that the attention remains on the person celebrating the birthday and not on the baker.

Other people I admire?

  • Friends who encourage me and others… to be the best that we can be.
  • People who discover a need and fill it, without wasting breath about what other people should be doing to fill that need.
  • People who fail, but keep on trying, no matter what the odds.
  • People who face challenges with a positive attitude.
  • People who have fears (don’t we all?), but refuse to give in to those fears.  They just recognize the fear and move forward anyway.

These are the people who inspire me.  Usually these are people I know in all walks of life.  Sometimes they are a friend.  Sometimes they are a friend of a friend.  They aren’t famous or celebrities. They aren’t seeking out awards or even accolades.  They are walking, breathing superheros.  I’m proud to know them.  They inspire me everyday.  That was a facebook entry I found easy to answer.  But you won’t see famous photos there on my page.  No one knew Clark Kent was a hero either.

Dec17

Confessions of a Blogging Fool

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Every instinct in me tells me not to reveal what I am about to reveal, but I’m gonna’ do it anyway.  That just shows you how desperate (or stupid) I am.

I’m only pretending to be a blogger, but I honestly don’t know how to blog.  Every time I get on to post something I feel like I’m some kind of a bumbling archeologist digging for tiny clues about what I’m supposed to be doing.

In other areas of my life, I actually feel some tiny bit of competence, but not when I blog.  It’s annoying to feel like such a fool.

Example:  I’m an author.  Yes, I’ve actually written a published book.  I have the cover of that book on a jpeg on my desktop, but I don’t know how to post it on my blog.  !?  How stupid is that?  Today I actually found a comment on my blog from a college instructor, asking for copies of my book.  The poor gal had to be extremely motivated because I can’t even post the bookcover so I know she didn’t find out about the book from me.  Duh.

I can, however, post photos of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal faking it… or David Letterman.  My skills aren’t nonexistent.  I just don’t get the whole blog puzzle.  I refuse to confess how many hours I have spent trying to post that one simple jpeg that contains the cover of my book on my blog.  You would throw yourself on the floor and laugh for a week.

Last week someone “liked me’ on my blog.  That actually does happen quite a bit and I am grateful.  These people do not know I am clueless.  When I read a blogpost from the person who “liked” me they listed blog do’s and don’ts.  I was amazed.  The post said, “Never blog more than twice a week.  People won’t want to be bothered.”  Oh dear, I’ve been rude.  Forgive me.  She “liked” me in spite of my goof.

Her blog also said not to post in the middle of the night or on a weekend.  Another goof.  I almost always write and post in the middle of the night.  No wonder I’m getting responses from the other side of the world.  And I’m sorry I’m writing this on a weekend.

I’m going to try to follow these mysterious rules.  I have slowed down on my blogging.  If you don’t know what you are doing….do it less.  That’s probably a good rule.  However, that’s not the real reason I’ve been blogging less.  The real reason is I’m writing another book.  Yay!  This one will be an eBook.

Can you imagine the misplaced confidence of a blogging idiot to attempt to write an eBook?  I must be crazy.  But I have to confess, I’m completely absorbed in it.  The invitation was extended to me and I jumped on board.  I’m excited about the opportunity and as  the writing flows, I have a sneaking suspicion that it is going to be great.  I’ll tell you more about it when it is closer to being finished.  But I doubt that I will be able to post the cover.

My book that has already been published is titled Teachers Touch Eternity.  It’s a wonderul inspiring book for teachers or future teachers.  It has a great cover.  But you’ll probably never see it because I still can’t figure out how to post the cover on my blog.

A couple of days ago, one of the “likes” I received I believe belongs to a treasured former student.  Hi Ally!  She will not be surprised that I am clueless about blogging.  She could tell you stories.

Forgive me as I continue to fumble along doing something that is really difficult for me.  I suppose that is the only way to learn a new skill.  I’m a teacher so I should know.  Thanks to all of you for your patience with a blogging fool.

 

 

Dec8

The Coincidence

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Melody Beattie is a favorite author of mine. She doesn’t write novels. She writes nonfiction books that help me navigate through my days. Her pages always encourage and inspire me and give me new perspectives on the things that happen in my life.
I also admire Ms. Beattie because her first bestselling book was rejected by twenty publishers before it was finally published. I simply love stories about authors proving publishing companies wrong. Fortunately there are dozens of stories just like that to give aspiring authors hope. Did you know that Kathryn Stockett’s book The Help was rejected by sixty agents/publishers before it was finally accepted by one? You see, there is hope for all of us.
My personal two favorites of Melody Beattie’s books are titled The Language of Letting Go and More on the Language of Letting Go. (But all of her books are great.) Each of my two favorites contains daily readings that comprise a year’s worth of inspiring thoughts and suggestions. I’ve read both of these books several times. In fact I carry them in my car and read them at traffic lights. If you catch me reading, please don’t honk.
Ms. Beattie’s latest book is titled Making Miracles in Forty Days. Who wouldn’t want a miracle? I learned about the existence of the book by exploring on Amazon.com. I was intrigued by the title and have always been impressed with Melody’s advice. The paperback wasn’t even out yet, but they promised it by December 10th. In late October I decided to order the CD read aloud by Melody. How fun it was to finally hear her actual voice after only reading her words off a page for years.
Now here’s my secret. I’ve been following her suggestions in her miracle project for the past thirty days. I see you shaking your head and doubting my intelligence. I used to teach high school, so I’m used to people questioning my intelligence. But I am definitely NOT one of those gals who receives a pen pal type email offering good luck if you pass it along. I just hit the delete button and take my chances.
I must admit I feel sheepish even telling you this. I began on November 4th. It requires you to write out how you would like to change your life if you had a magic wand. You also write out your goals. Haven’t we all done that at one time or another? “So what?” I thought. But I did it.
She requires that you list things you are grateful for each day, first thing in the morning. I’ve listed my gratitudes before too, no big news there. However, she also insisted that we list the negative issues going on in our lives first, and claim in writing, that we are grateful for them. Is she nuts? By then I not only questioned my sanity, but hers as well. But what did I have to lose? No one would know. I felt like an idiot.

• I keep getting thicker in the middle. Joy to the world.
• I enjoy writing but no one seems to care. Woo-hoo! I’m grateful for that.
• I’m grateful for a pain I have in my neck…no, not a person….an actual pain. Love that pain.
• I am so thrilled that I received another rejection yesterday from an agent to whom I sent a manuscript. I   love receiving emails and letters that reject me. Just makes my day lovely.
Well, you get the idea. I felt completely absurd the entire time. Following your kind of “fake” gratitudes each day you may list the real things for which you are actually thankful. I like that part better. Melody demands you do this as soon as you wake up each day. She claims that is when we are most honest with ourselves. Later in the day we click on our denial skills and never even recognize our negative issues that bug us.
Well, there you have it my embarrassing confession. I have only a few days left before my forty days are up. So if you possess a miracle, send it my way.
There have been some baffling things I have noticed along the way. It seems like when I list a negative issue and ‘fake’ claim my gratitude for it, somehow it plants itself in my subconscious mind or something and my subconscious mind seems to work a little harder at resolving it. This takes no effort on my part. So I say, “Cool.”
In the beginning one of the issues I wrote that I would change if I could wave a magic wand, was to overcome my fear of technology enough to begin to blog. Agents and publishers insist that today’s authors blog, have a website and are active in social media. Blah. I wanted to do none of those things and had avoided them like being weighed in public. But here I am blogging and enjoying it. In less than a month I have received “likes” and positive comments from all over the world. I’ve discovered I enjoy writing humor pieces. Who knew? Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read any one of my pieces. I think you are pretty miraculous.
Just last week I received an email from someone in Seattle. I live in Cincinnati. For those of you who don’t live in the states, or are geographically challenged, these places are maybe 2,000 miles apart. Completely out of the blue this was an old friend contacting me and asking if I wanted to collaborate on writing an eBook. She is a person whose writing I have always admired and she was suggesting a topic I never thought I would write about. But it is a topic close to my heart. This other gal has a website, blog and is into social media. She suggested a coach she uses who could help me with the eBook process. This gal is someone I send a Christmas letter to once a year. We typically have no other contact throughout the year.
You know what? I’m going to do it. This sounds eerily like a miracle. Nah, couldn’t be. I don’t believe in that stuff. It’s obviously just a coincidence. But guess who is going to keep listing her challenges each morning and claiming that she is grateful for them?

Dec4

The Truth About Those Christmas Letters

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Here they come…the Christmas cards. I admit I love to see them in my mailbox. I like to open them and catch up on and celebrate all that has happened in my friends’ lives. I even enjoy the whole process of sending my own card complete with my not-so-perfect family photo. Not of me, of course, but of the young people in my family who are thinner than I.

But I have to admit. Sometimes the Christmas letters included inside the card make me feel inadequate. It seems like the whole world is moving on fast forward while I’m simply treading water. Everyone else is taking exotic vacations while I’m only carpooling. Other people’s kids win awards and scholarships. My friends receive promotions and opportunities that seem to elude my family. What is wrong with me/us?

In order to maintain just a little bit of self-esteem, I’ve decided that these Christmas letters are mainly overstated hype. They have become the reality TV shows of the holidays.  Surely these families employ publicists who put a positive spin on everything that happens in their lives. Those PR professionals are probably the ones who actually write the Christmas letters.

As a public service to the world at large, I’ve decided to provide a translation to all the other folks who are feeling as inadequate as I am when they receive these fake letters.

Here is what the Christmas letters really mean.  I promise.

“Jim has accepted a new position with the largest corporation in America. He is excited about the growth potential there.”

Really means…

Jim has been unemployed for eight months this year and is now a Walmart Greeter. There is nowhere to go but up.

“Our son was offered a full scholarship to several colleges. We are so proud of his accomplishments!”

Really means…

We are homeless and on food stamps. Since we are now penniless our “indigent” status qualified him for full tuition.

“Susie, our sixteen year old, loves children and plans to seek a career in which she can help them grow and develop into their full potential.”

Really means….

Susie is pregnant out-of-wedlock and will be raising her child alone. She will be a teacher’s aide at a daycare center in exchange for free babysitting for her child. She will be working on her GED at night.

“We decided to fulfill a lifelong dream and travel around the world. We’ve been to Paris, Jamaica, Australia, and Bermuda. We spent last week in Norway in a beautiful hotel made entirely of ice.”

Really means…

Hubby is a Wall Street tycoon accused of a Ponzie scheme. We are on the run burning up funds from our Swiss accounts before the authorities catch us and lock us away.

“We have relocated and have decided to finally embrace the technology era to communicate with our friends. Our current email address is successfulcouple@winner.net  We have recently written a bestseller together.

Really means…

We had to walk away from our home when the bank foreclosed. We are now living in our brother-in-law’s old car checking our email in the public library. If you want to know the location of every store open twenty-four hours with a restroom, we have the best-selling ebook on Amazon.com.

OK.  There you have it…the real truth about those Christmas letters.  Do you feel better now?  I know I do.

Nov21

Choosing Kindness

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One of my all time favorite quotes comes from the book Between Teacher and Child written by Dr. Haim Ginnott. He said, “In all situations it is the teacher who decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.” If every future teacher could somehow internalize and live just that one sentence, our classrooms and students would benefit every day.

However, that quote doesn’t just apply to teachers and their students, it applies to life.  As our population increases, it seems we have become less patient with one another. A person hesitates five seconds before moving on a green light and horns blare. A sales clerk has to call his manager to fix an error and people stomp away grumbling…or worse. A waitress places a lemon slice on someone’s water glass and the customer goes nuts.

Each of us has the power to de-escalate a tense situation. It’s a choice. All it takes is a smile, a kind word or even just calm patience. When we find our tempers rising we can choose to turn off that switch, take a deep breath and make a decision to de-escalate the situation. As the holidays and long lines increase this season we will all be put to the test.  Does it make anyone feel better to grind someone into the ground?  Where is the humanity in that? Escalate a situation and it almost always gets worse.   Everyone loses.  Add kindness and patience to the same situation and it will miraculously begin to improve. Everyone wins.

The choice is ours.

Nov20

Worthy Comparisons

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It seems that we look at each person we know and search for their best feature or talent.  That’s a noble cause.  It’s great to look for the positive in everyone.  It’s even better to compliment them when you find a quality to admire.  However, too frequently we then compare that talent to ourselves and beat ourselves up until we feel inadequate.

“Heavens, I wish I could dance like you do.  I’m such a klutz.”

“I wish I had gorgeous eyes like his.  I hate the color of my eyes.”

“Look at her play tennis. She looks like a pro.  My serve is pathetic.”

“Your drawings are unbelievable.  I can’t draw stick men.”

Here’s a thought to consider when making comparisons.  We can genuinely admire others without all the self loathing.  The truth is we frequently search for another person’s best feature or talent and compare it to our worst.  We forget that the person who can dance like a star wishes they could write like us. That great tennis player may wish she could sing with our talent.

Our goal should be to continue to look for the talents of others and generously compliment them on their skills, while still  recognizing our own.  When we do this, the admiration becomes a win/win.  The better we feel about ourselves, the more confidence we have to continue to notice and comment on the talents of others.  A person who beats herself up too much becomes unable to genuinely compliment someone else.

Self love and acceptance is so important.  If adoration from others was all that we needed, there would be fewer celebrities taking their own lives.  Yesterday I heard a Christmas song on the radio sung by Karen Carpenter.  I marveled once again at the smooth beautiful quality of her voice.  There truly is none comparable.  And yet she died a victim of anorexia.  What a loss to the world and an even more profound loss to her family.

We need to be as kind to ourselves as we would be to our best friend or a favorite celebrity.   This may be difficult, but why not try?  The things we say to ourselves are more important than the voices of anyone else.   This Thanksgiving be thankful for your own talents.

***If you are struggling with an eating disorder of any kind, Portia de Rossi’s book Unbearable Lightness is a great read.***

Nov18

Confessions of a List…aholic

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Hi.  My name is Dauna; and I am a listaholic.   I make lists to organize my days.  That’s what I tell the world.  Frequently, however, I get carried away.  I’ve been known to write two or three things I’ve already done that day on the top of my list because I want “credit for them.”  Scrapbookers, who plan their vacations around the photo opportunities their destinations will provide, will understand this point of view.  It’s a disease.

I love scratching things off my list after I complete them.  It makes me feel powerful, valuable, and efficient… like Wonder Woman with a pen and a much bigger costume.

“What did you do today, honey?”

“Look, here’s my list.  See how looooong it is.”

Any time there is an article in a magazine about making lists I read it. Let’s be honest, I could write these articles.  I can visualize the list of bullets I could include in my article.  It would be a beautiful list about making lists. One wonderful suggestion they always write in these articles is to do the thing you dread the most, FIRST.  Great advice, but hard to execute.

For the past three days I have had the same most dreaded item (make a call about my health benefits) on my list.  Do you know how upsetting it is to have the same top dread on my list for three days in a row?  Paralyzing.  Failure is having everything crossed off your list at the end of the day while the one most distasteful item glares back at you.   Each day it peers back at you the stress builds.  It’s enough to give a listaholic nightmares.

I’m proud to announce I called about my health benefits today.  Ahhh.  What a relief.  (There’s a reason I didn’t write this article yesterday).  Tomorrow my list will be fresh.  No festering reruns.  That is really fortunate because with Thanksgiving only a week away my lists seem to be consuming steroids while I’m not looking.

But my conscience won’t be clear until I make one more confession.  What I’m writing now is my blog for tomorrow.  I will save it overnight.  When I get up tomorrow the first thing on my list will be “Write and post blog entry.”  I’ll hit one button and then cross it immediately off my list. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.

Nov16

Ask the Hamster

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We’ve all seen those crazy hamsters running on an exercise wheel going nowhere.  We think to ourselves, “Where does he think he’s going?” Sometimes we may even grin and feel superior.  Doesn’t he know he’s in a cage and only running in circles?

The joke is on us. Think for a minute about the parallels between caged hamsters and human beings.  Hamsters realize they need to exercise and jump into the wheel.  They run without caution going faster and faster. When they’re finished they jump off invigorated.  Humans go to the gym and jump on the treadmill or maybe even stay at home in their cage and work out on a rowing machine.  They work until their stress level is abated and their need for movement is fulfilled…just like hamsters.

I doubt that hamsters spend much time ‘thinking’ about why they run.  Their bodies need it and so off they go.  Humans think plenty about the advantages of exercise.  But they also sometimes think too much about the exertion or not enough about the benefits of exercise and have to plead and bargain with themselves to commit to movement.  That’s me!  Sometimes they refuse to exercise at all.  Score one point for the hamsters.

However, humans take running in circles to dangerous levels in another way.  Too frequently their lives are rushing in frenzied paths from one activity to another.  They go from work, to a gym, to a dinner meeting, to a social commitment.  They go home too tired to relax, but they answer their emails, voice messages and
texts.  They fall into bed and wake up early to begin the exhausting cycle all over again. They find themselves
accepting projects and volunteer responsibilities without ever stopping to ask themselves whether those activities are the best use of their time.

Humans have the ability and intelligence to ask…to question their motives…but too often they don’t. Instead they ask themselves why they don’t have the time to take steps toward their real dream.   Why are they
working so hard and yet feeling unfulfilled and exhausted?  They don’t take the time to ask themselves
important questions.

  • If my life were to end tomorrow will I be satisfied with how I’ve lived?
  • What is my big dream or real mission?
  • What have I left undone?
  • What are my authentic values that my life has failed to reflect so far?
  • How can I arrange my life to be more in alignment with my honest goals?

This is not simply an exercise.  It’s choosing a path for our lives.  If we don’t start now, when?  The human brain weighs between 1,300 and 1,400 grams.  A hamster brain weighs only 1.4 grams.  Are we making the best use of all that extra brain power?  Ouch.  Start now.  What will you do differently?