Small Victories

Last night Marie and I went to see a good friend of ours play in a tennis tournament. He started playing tennis about a year ago and was super excited to be competing in a tournament and we were super excited for him. The match came down to the wire to decide whether his team would go on to play in the finals and, in the end, they won. After the match our friend was glowing and he had a little extra bounce in his step when he walked. I have to say, I was watching the end of this match with more excitement than I would a pro tennis tournament match. Why?.. because for my friend, it was. The experience had me realize that there are no small victories, they are all huge. Whether in the pros or not, every accomplishment, every victory, every time we reach a goal, we are growing. As our belief in ourselves goes up, just a little more joy is deposited into our souls. The lesson I took from this was to be light about everything, but take nothing lightly. This was further motivation to continue taking on challenges and racking up the "small" victories.

putting it into action

Today I went to an amazing seminar. I got a lot of great information on how to grow my business and reach more people. I learned form a trainer who is having the kind of success that I am building towards. Myself and the people I was there with walked out of there pumped up, excited and motivated. The thing I need to keep in mind is that everything I learned today, like anything else will dissipate very quickly unless I put it to action. Knowledge will only take me so far. I know what I need to do. I know the impact it will have on my life and the lives of so many others. I have belief in my myself, and my commitment is to step it up and make it happen....now.

Behind the newsflash

Yesterday I heard a news flash that a tree had fallen in Central Park from the weight of the snow and struck and killed a man. they said that the man was unidentified and all they knew was that he was in his 50's. My mind started spinning a bit, as it sometimes does. Who was this man, who did he love, who loved him, did he have family?. I started thinking that behind this breaking news was a family, friends who's lives were just changed forever, in an instant and man whose journey here on earth had ended. then, last night we were watching the Olympics and they said that the skater from Canada's mom had suddenly died on Sunday and she was skating on Tuesday. the woman ended up winning the bronze medal. I feel that every bit of information that reaches us, reaches us for a reason. It is a lesson, a reminder, a wake up call. I get these lessons often and I am aware of them, take them in and then, more often than I would like to admit, I go about things in the same way. I know it's a process and my commitment is that I don't realize it, I act on it. Have I said everything i want to say? Do the people I love know how much I love them? Am I living my purpose? Am I making a difference in the world? What these two events reminded me is that life is precious and that it goes on.

snow

It's snowing again today. It seems that pretty much everyone on this coast has had it with the snow. It's been consistently cold for a while and we have gotten a good amount of snow this winter. I have to admit that I am more a warm weather guy. I am happiest wearing shorts, a t-shirt and my flip flops. I actually love the snow though. It may be because it still makes me think of a day off of school. I remember watching the news, just waiting for my school to be announced as being closed. Everyone loves a snow day, but nobody loves wet socks. There is also a purity in snow. It's beautiful when all the trees are covered with snow, when everywhere you look, it's white. Kids love snow because it's a time to go and play in it, go sleigh riding, have snowball fights, make money shoveling sidewalks and get out of school. They are making the best out of a situation without effort or even realizing they are doing so. As adults we may not do those things, although why not? We can however find our own way to make the best out of the situation and see the beauty in it or we can bitch and moan and be miserable :)

"unrealistic" goals

To my unreasonable, outrageous, anything is possible friends, let me explain. I know that anything is possible and to achieve an extraordinary life it requires thinking beyond what i know logically see as possible. What I'm talking about here is "setting myself up to lose". There is a difference between unrealistic and outrageous.I used to write a three month goal statement that had a list of a 100 accomplishments on it, which would require me to achieve more than one of them each day and had me earning more per month at the end of the three months than I have mad in a year. I know now that sub-consciously I was making a list of goals that I didn't really believe I could achieve and that nobody could possible fault me for not achieving...if I just achieved 1/4 of it that would be a great accomplishment. I was creating a back door. Then, I would not achieve my goals and repeat the process again. it's like running and jumping from the top of one building to another and missing and hitting the wall and sliding down. then, continuing to do the same thing, rather than make adjustments. Eventually, you will tire out and not even make the wall and splat on the concrete. OK, I can be a little dramatic sometimes, but I don't want to splat anymore. Now I write goals with my top priorities, things that are important to me, that I know I can achieve and I know that I have to be way out of my comfort zone and and be consistently persistent to achieve.

Always connected

I spoke to a good friend yesterday after playing phone tag and not actually speaking for a few weeks. She moved recently and situations have changed that causes us not to interact or see each other as much as we once did. when we finally caught each other on the phone, we picked up right where we left off and it was like we never lost the connection, because we never did. This reminded me that if someone is important to me and I am important to them and we form a connection it is always there, even if it doesn't look the same as it has in the past. sometimes we move, we disagree, we fight, we say or do things that hurt the other person, but if the relationship matters, the connection never dies. Of course that does sometimes take work and care on my part and maintaining the connection. I can't get complacent and take my relationships for granted, but at the same time trust that the connection remains.

blog vs journal

This is not my journal. If I posted my journal every day, I don't think I would have many people coming back to read it again. My goal with this blog has always been to somehow support someone, in some way. Even if that is just through relating to what I'm saying and knowing you are not alone. I do share my experiences and my personal thoughts, though. when I write in my journal, it's all about me. I just throw up all over my journal with my pen...ok, that's probably not a visual you needed after breakfast. What I mean is, I have no filters, I'm not thinking about who it may support or if it will have an impact on someone. I journal when I first get up in the morning and whatever is in my head or on my heart goes on the pages without hesitation and until I'm done. then I end with writing what I am grateful for that day. Sometimes I'm just grateful that I don't have turrets syndrome and may blurt out what I just wrote or that I'm not surround by min-readers. this clears me off to go about my day, most of the time. Before I go to bed, I write about my day, what I did that worked and what could use improvement. Then, I write my intention for sleep and for the next day. I think blogging and journaling are two different things. I blog for you....I journal for me. Although, in some ways they both support both of us. If you don't write in a journal, give It a shot. It's better to release on paper than on the guy at the coffee shop.